BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile About This Site | Text Only 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile Roger Bannister, a 25-year-old British medical student, has become the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes. His time was 3mins 59.4 seconds, achieved at the Iffley Road track in Oxford and watched by about 3,000 spectators. Bannister, once president of the Oxford club, was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his old university during their annual match. The race was carefully planned and he was aided by two pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Brasher took the lead as the first pacemaker, Bannister slotted in behind, with Chataway in third place. When Brasher began to feel the strain, Bannister signalled for Chataway to take over. Just over 200 yards from the finish, Bannister took the lead with a final burst of energy. He sprinted to the line in record time and fell exhausted into the arms of a friend, the Rev Nicholas Stacey.

Pandemonium broke out when spectators heard news that Bannister had officially beaten the four-minute mile. He had prepared for the race the previous week at Paddington Green in London in high winds. The weather at Iffley Road was not ideal for record-breaking - a 15mph crosswind with gusts of up to 25mph meant that Bannister nearly called off the attempt. Bannister has beaten his main rival to the record - Australian athlete John Landy. Both had run quite close to the time but the magic number four had proved elusive until now. Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile - May 06, 1954 - HISTORY.com Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile Share this: Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile Author Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1954, at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England, medical student Roger Bannister becomes the first person in recorded history to run the mile in under four minutes. Roger Bannister was born in Middlesex on March 23, 1929.

His parents couldn’t afford to send him to school, so he ran his way in: Bannister won a track scholarship to Oxford, where he studied medicine and was a running sensation. He caused a furor in England when he declined to run the 1500 meters in the 1948 London Olympics so he could concentrate on his medical studies. He did run in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, but finished fourth. Again, the British press scorned him. He then resolved to break track and field’s most famous barrier, the four-minute mile, a feat many believed to be impossible. Bannister had limited time to train, as he was enrolled at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School. He would run 30 minutes most days, focusing the rest of his time on his study of neurology. On May 6, 1954, Bannister was running for the Amateur Athletic Association in Oxford against runners from the university in their annual match. He ran with two friends, who paced him, and then sprinted the last 200 yards, for a record time of 3:59.4.

Later that month, Australian John Landy broke Bannister’s record by less than a second. The two were then made out to be rivals. In August, Bannister and Landy met face-to-face at the British Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, where 35,000 spectators watched what was billed as the “mile of the century.” Landy led Bannister the entire race, but Bannister out-sprinted Landy down the straightaway to win by five yards and less than a second, 3:58.8 to 3:59.6. Their two times were the third and fourth recorded miles run in under four minutes in history. Bannister finished his medical degree and became a practicing neurologist and neuroscience researcher. Knighted in 1975, Sir Roger Bannister served as director of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London.

Long after his career as a runner had ended, in an interview with Bill Heine of BBC’s Radio Oxford, Bannister called running a “powerful source of self expression” and said of his talent on the track, “I believe that as I grew up through adolescence, this capacity to run without pain or discomfort became part of me, and it found its expression in running in cross country races, running with friends, for the sheer enjoyment running across the countryside. Running, not walking, and, eventually this became a track event with more and more people watching and people concerned with stopwatches.” Related Videos Roger Bannister : Athletes : Bring Back the Mile Birthday: 03/23/29 Mile PR: 3:58.8 - 1954 Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 3:42.2 - 1954 High School: City of Bath Boys' School Hometown: Harrow, England College: Exeter College, Merton College, Oxford & St.

Mary's Hospital Medical School Current Residence: Oxford, GBR Roger Bannister of Great Britain etched his name into the history books by becoming the first man to break the "once thought impossible if not fatal", but magical 4 minute barrier in the Mile. On Thursday, May 6, 1954 at Oxford’s Iffley Road track, the 1952 Olympian ran 3:59.4. His world record only lasted 46 days, but its historic and iconic importance resonates today in the sport and beyond. At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, Bannister beat the only other man at the time to run sub-4 minutes, John Landy of Australia. This thrillng race has been called The Mile of the Century or Miracle Mile. For the first time in the same Mile race, two men broke 4 minutes with Bannister clocking a PR 3:58.8 followed by the Aussie in 3:59.6.

In his career, Bannister only bested 4 minutes twice, and also in 1954, he won the 1500m gold medal at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland - this was his last competitive race. Sir Roger Bannister made Companion of Honor in New Year’s Honors List December 31, 2016 "I would hope that my colleagues with whom I worked in hospitals for 25 years will appreciate the honor, as well as those who were in the world of running.” By Luke Sproule, The Oxford Times Sir Roger Bannister , celebrated neurologist and the first man to run a Mile in less than 4 minutes,... Sporting legend Roger Bannister calls for “optimism” ahead of Olympic Games August 06, 2016 "There will always be failures, wrongdoing and cheating in every human endeavour. Britain should be bursting with pride over our Froomes, Murrays, Ennis-Hills and Mo Farahs.

They inspire amateur athletes all over the world." By Hannah Somerville, Oxford Mail Special “Bannister” Screening Set for New Balance Falmouth Road Race Expo August 05, 2016 Q&A to feature athlete who ran in historic first sub-4 minute Mile race and American record holder Alan Webb FALMOUTH, Mass. — To mark the return of the elite Mile to Falmouth after a one-year hiatus, “Bannister: Everest on the Track", will be screened at the New Balance Falmouth Road Race’s... (Sir) Roger and Me July 30, 2016 “As I have said, winning Olympic races is more important than the 4 minute Mile. It so happens that the rest of the world thinks otherwise.” - Sir Roger Bannister By Pat Butcher, GlobeRunner.com Oh dear! I watched Everest on the Track, the documentary of Roger Bannister and the 4 minute Mile...

Book details 1954 Empire Games glory and ‘Miracle Mile’ April 20, 2016 We have in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection one of the 25 Omega stopwatches that was used to time the Miracle Mile and unbelievably it’s still stopped at Roger Bannister ’s winning time of 3 minutes, 58.8 seconds! By Megan Stewart, The Vancouver Courier The stand-alone image of the 1954... Bannister’s Sub-4 Minute Mile Named Greatest Athletic Achievement November 18, 2005 For Forbes' panel of experts, editors and readers, one feat did emerge as a clear winner: the first sub-4 by Roger Bannister in 1954 By David M. Ewalt with Lacey Rose, Forbes.com At their best, sports are about more than just winning games and diverting crowds. They test the limits of what... Q&A with Tom Ratcliffe, director of Bannister: Everest on the Track April 13, 2016 Despite all of the acclaim, he’s definitely a humble guy who understands the achievement but doesn’t let himself get too carried away with it.

By Christopher Chavez, Sports Illustrated When Roger Bannister crossed the finish line at Oxford’s Iffley Road track in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds on... Sir Roger Bannister donates diaries to Oxford’s library March 25, 2016 Mile legend's collection filled more than 50 boxes, includes letters, diaries, speeches, articles, photographs and film from his career over the years. By Sports Illustrated Wire Sir Roger Bannister celebrated his 87th birthday by making his diaries public for the first time at Oxford's... December 11, 2015 First sub-4 minute Mile one such memorable moment: “So the Everest of athletics has been scaled, the sound barrier of running has been penetrated. Roger Gilbert Bannister, 25-year-old medical student, may never find the panacea for all ills the human flesh is heir to, but he has found the... Phil Knight: I would have tried to sign Roger Bannister October 01, 2015 “A lot of people said it was impossible.

I was a junior in high school [when Bannister broke the 4 minute barrier] and my history teacher says, ‘The stopwatches were wrong, a human being can’t run that fast.'” By Nick Zaccardi, NBC Sports It’s no surprise that Nike co-founder Phil Knight,... The day Sir Roger Bannister reclaimed the four-minute Mile June 08, 2015 46 days after Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute Mile, his world record fell to John Landy. Here the athlete reflects on the day he won back his title By Roger Bannister , The Telegraph This photograph captures the moment I overtook the Australian runner John Landy on the final bend at... Laced with sporting history: The last tangible link to Bannister’s sub-4 Mile May 23, 2015 Christie’s to auction the shoes worn by Sir Roger Bannister when he became the first man to run a sub-4 minute Mile, described as the ‘greatest athletic achievement of the 20th century’ From Christie's The Art People The running shoes worn by Sir Roger Bannister CBE when he became the first...

Roger Bannister’s shoes from 4 minute Mile set for auction May 20, 2015 Bannister said part of the proceeds from the shoes auction will go to a charity that encourages neurological research, according to the auction company. By Nick Zacardi, NBC Olympic Talk The shoes Sir Roger Bannister wore when he ran the first sub-4 minute Mile will be auctioned September 10... Sir Roger record watch sold for £20,000 May 19, 2015 “I’m not surprised that the watch went for so much money as there has been a great interest in it. It is one of the most special watches.” From Oxford Mail The stopwatch used to record Sir Roger Bannister ’s first sub-4 minute Mile record in Oxford sold for £20,000 ($31,000) yesterday. The... Sir Roger reminisces about breaking Mile record May 09, 2015 “We would always have a reunion with our wives and meet up on the anniversary. That’s what it used to be.

Unfortunately I’m alone now.” By Oxford Mail Sir Roger Bannister celebrated the 61st anniversary of the day he broke the 4 minute Mile barrier in Oxford. He made sporting history on... Sir Roger Bannister’s new “record” from Guinness December 12, 2014 “To be a record breaker I think you have to have determination and you have to be prepared for upsets and reverses which I certainly had in my career. The other factor is luck." From Oxford Mail Sub-4 minute Mile hero Sir Roger Bannister has been honored by Guinness World Records to mark 60... One of the greatest feats ever achieved by a British athlete almost never took place... By Dominic Midgley, Daily Express It was the behavior of a Cross of St. George flag flying on the steeple of St. John's Church near the Iffley Road track in Oxford on Thursday, May 6, 1954 that persuaded... Bannister vs. Landy 1954 showdown, Coe’s 1984 gold medal defense still resonate August 10, 2014 "Yes, Landy has a lead of three yards.

It's 220 yards to go and I don't believe Bannister is going to be able to catch him..." By Mike Rowbottom, InsideTheGames.biz Significant anniversaries of two great foot races fall either side of this weekend - races won by two Britons who, through their... How the sports landscape looked when SI printed first issue in 1954 August 09, 2014 But in 1954 all sports stories were overshadowed by what happened on a track in England on May 6. By Richard Rothschild, Sports Illustrated Imagine a sports landscape ruled by baseball, where college football is more popular than the National Football League, horse racing and boxing draw... HOKA ONE ONE presents the Mile Moment of the Month By Bring Back the Mile Sixty years ago, on August 7, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, the world’s two best Milers, England’s Roger Bannister , the first man to run a sub-4 minute Mile, and Australia’s...

‘Race of the century’ between Landy & Bannister still a miracle 60 years later July 27, 2014 “I was going to run from the front, I was going to break the 4 minute Mile, and I was going to break my world record." - John Landy By Kym Morgan, The Advertiser The 1954 British Empire Games Mile race between Australia’s John Landy and England’s Roger Bannister in Vancouver, Canada, was so... My favorite photograph: Runner and neurosurgeon Sir Roger Bannister July 15, 2014 Sir Roger Bannister , 85, amazed the world when he broke the four-minute Mile. But could he stand the pace at his son’s sports day? By Roz Lewis, The Daily and Sunday Express "This is a picture of me running in the fathers’ race at my sons’ school sports day in 1965. I hadn’t known about this... To go fast, you must plan ahead By Michael Overall, Tulsa World With the starter pistol still echoing through the Oxford stadium, Cambridge runner Chris Brasher jumped to an early lead, but he had no intention of winning the race.

A 25-year-old medical student, Roger Bannister , followed... Beating John Landy stands above record: Roger Bannister May 06, 2014 “Vancouver was the pinnacle of my athletics career. It is very difficult to break records during Olympic competition, but winning races was better than holding world records.” By AFP for The Australian Sixty years since becoming the first man to run a Mile in under four minutes, Roger... The Four-Minute Man, Forever May 06, 2014 Franz Stampfl, his coach, implored him to run in a meet between Oxford and the Amateur Athletic Association: “He said to me, ‘Although the conditions are not ideal, if you don’t take this opportunity, you might not forgive yourself for the rest of your life.’ He was right.” By Jesse Will, The... Roger Bannister showed us how to combine sport and everyday living May 05, 2014 What's astonishing about Bannister's 4 minute Mile in 1954 is that he was an amateur.

He even worked on the day of the race By John Bryant, The Guardian Things were very different 60 years ago when Roger Bannister became an icon to Britain and the empire by becoming the first to break the 4... Bannister Marks 60th Anniversary of 4 Minute Mile May 04, 2014 "Bannister's 3:59.4 remains part of track and field lore, a symbol of boundary-busting endurance that stands the test of time." By Stephen Wilson, Associated Press OXFORD, England (AP) — Sixty years later, Roger Bannister is busy reliving the four minutes that still endure as a transcendent... Roger Bannister made an indelible mark on the sport and the world on May 6, 1954 By Pat Murphy, TroyMedia.com TORONTO, Canada – If you were around in 1954, you couldn’t escape the 4 minute Mile. The newspapers were full of it, and the coverage wasn’t confined to the sports pages. Running a...

How running has changed since the 4-minute Mile April 25, 2014 When I was a child in the late 1950s, my parents taught me about Bannister's Mile just as they taught me about the first climbing of Mount Everest. By Mary Beard, BBC.com As we approach the 60th anniversary of the 4-minute Mile, historian Mary Beard reflects on what has changed in the sport... “He is a legend. He shattered the record and inspired generations of all nations.” By Oxford Mail Sports fans waited up to four hours to meet their hero. Sir Roger Bannister , the man who ran the first ever Mile under 4 minutes at Iffley Road sports track in 1954, signed copies of his... The 4 minute Mile, exact to the nearest inch April 06, 2014 Our task was to measure the track’s inside lane, six inches in from the edge, to check that Sir Roger had run one Mile, no more and no less. John Barrell letter to The Telegraph SIR – I read Sir Roger Bannister ’s article on his epic race with great interest as it brought back memories for me....

Roger Bannister: ‘The day I broke the 4 minute Mile’ March 30, 2014 In an extract from his new book, "Twin Tracks", Bannister recounts how he prepared for his unforgettable, legendary race Sixty years ago, on May 6, 1954, at Iffley Road track in Oxford, Roger Bannister became the first man in recorded history to run a Mile in under 4 minutes. Bannister, who had... A BBC serial about the athlete and scholar's incredible, historic 1954 record run By Ben Dowell, RadioTimes.com Scriptwriter Andrew Davies is working on a BBC drama about Roger Bannister ’s 4 minute Mile record run, RadioTimes.com can reveal. The writer says that the drama is likely to be in...

Sub-4 Fever March 05, 2014 AW’s editor looks ahead excitedly to the 60th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s first sub-4 minute Mile: the Everest of athletics By Jason Henderson, Athletics Weekly When Roger Bannister ran 3:59.4 in Oxford on May 6, 1954, to become the first man to break the 4-minute barrier for one Mile,... Retirement investing: your sub-4 minute Mile January 09, 2014 For serious retirement investors, the far better sports metaphor lies in the story of Roger Bannister, the first man sub-4 minutes in the Mile By Mitchell Tuchman, MarketWatch Read enough about investing and eventually you run into this entertaining hockey metaphor: "Skate to where the puck... Shaun White's versatility, Bo Jackson's phenomenal speed, Geronimo's nimbleness, Bannister's Mile moment and more From The Atlantic Gay Talese, writer Boxing is the most physically demanding of athletic disciplines. No other athletes are so confronted with the physical demands, the heart,...

Get Off the Sofa: Time is Running Out to Locate the Roger Bannister Lurking Inside Every One of Us May 08, 2013 On a cinder track, 59 years ago on Monday, Roger Bannister became the first person to run the sub-four-minute Mile. By Tanya Aldred, The Telegraph It was a squally day, not good for records, and Roger Bannister nearly did not run at the Iffley Road track. But he knew his rivals were closing... May 06, 2013 By Daily Press On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a Mile in under four minutes. For several years, men had been getting closer and closer to that barrier. It is not true, as some claim today, that experts in the 1950s believed it was impossible - but the idea of...

The Thriller That Invites You to Run a Mile in Roger Bannister’s Shoes May 01, 2013 Paul Collicut's graphic novel The Murder Mile was inspired by the split second in 1954 when John Landy looked over his left shoulder and Roger Bannister passed him on the right By Sam Humphrey, The Guardian Ever since our ancestors began painting on the walls of caves, running has been a... September 24, 2012 By Ian Pinnell, Radio Cherwell On Friday 21st September 2012, Emily's Big Walk took place at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I was sent to cover the walk, as part of my role as Programme Controller with hospital radio station - Radio Cherwell. I interviewed various people, from... Gold Medalist Farah Backs Restoration of Track Roger Bannister Trained on to Break Four-Minute Mile September 14, 2012 Double Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah has given his backing to the restoration of a historic running track.

By Rob Whitson, West End Extra WESTMINSTER, England - Paddington Recreation Ground, where legendary runner Sir Roger Bannister trained to break the 4-minute Mile, is undergoing a... August 06, 2012 By John Baldoni, Forbes Of the many wonderful outcomes of the London 2012 Olympics is the attention that Roger Bannister , the first man to run the sub-four minute Mile, now in his eighties is receiving. When I was growing up, Bannister was a hero of mine. I ran track in high school and the... Bannister praises ‘enormous advances’ in anti-doping August 01, 2012 It was described as the "Everest of athletics". Almost 60 years after Sir Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute Mile he talks to Channel 4 News about sporting barriers, the Olympics and doping.

By Channel 4 News William Hill stop taking bets on 83-year-old's appointment Bannister became first man to ran sub-four-minute mile By Sam Jones, The Guardian William Hill has stopped taking bets on Sir Roger Bannister lighting the Olympic cauldron after receiving a flurry of big bets backing the man who ran... Sir Roger Bannister missed out in Helsinki July 18, 2012 Bikash Mohapatra digs out some of the biggest names in sport who failed to leave a mark on the Olympics. By rediff.com The Olympics is a great leveler. While on the one hand we witness athletes rising from relative anonymity to create history, on the other there are eminent athletes who... June 12, 2012 As he prepares to carry the Olympic Torch, an enchanting interview with 4-minute Mile legend Roger Bannister By Jane Fryer, Daily Mail OXFORD - Sir Roger Bannister is sitting straight-backed and immaculate in his favourite 'very hard' chair. He’s chatting about Olympic gold medals, the...

Roger Bannister to carry the Olympic torch at the Oxford track where he made history June 04, 2012 Sir Roger Bannister will carry the Olympic torch on the track where he became the first man to run the Mile in less than four minutes By Tim Walker, The Telegraph OXFORD - Although Sir Roger Bannister would have been a popular choice to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony, the... London 2012 - Should Bannister light Olympic flame? June 01, 2012 Five-times Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave remains the bookies' hot favourite to light the Olympic flame in the stadium at the London 2012 opening ceremony, but Sir Roger Bannister is closing on him. By Eurosport By Stephen Wilson, Irish Examiner OXFORD - Roger Bannister remembers those fabled four minutes as if they were yesterday. Like a proud patriarch regaling wide-eyed children, the 83-year-old avidly recounts that magical four-lap race on a cinder track in Oxford on May 6, 1954 — an event that...

Sir Chris Chataway Interview and the Magic Mile May 07, 2012 The UK's MarathonTalk podcast featured a two-part interview earlier this year with Sir Chris Chataway who paced Sir Roger Bannister to the first sub-4 minute Mile in 1954. Chataway went on to have a decorated career himself breaking the World 5000m record, winning Commonwealth gold over three... February 14, 2012 Dear Mile: You were our First Love from the time we set eyes on you; it's been a wonderful 100-plus years together. From the time Edward Merritt (USA) ran 4:43.8 in 1877 to Great Britian's Sir Roger Bannister 's ground breaking first sub-4 minute Mile in 1954, we've been through it all. The...

The Time a Land Forgot May 01, 2004 Was Roger Bannister the first man to run a Mile in under 4 minutes or was he just the first amateur?, asks one of Britain's top sports historians By Peter Radford, The Observer There were no celebrations on May 9, 1970 to mark the 200th anniversary of the first 4 minute Mile, and no tours... 4 Minutes and 20 Years July 15, 1974 In 1954, gasping with effort on Oxford's Iffley Road track, Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute Mile. Now a prominent neurologist and chairman of the British Sports Council, his celebrity is undimmed, although critics say his idealist's view of athletics is anachronistic By Kenny Moore,... The Joy of Running June 20, 1955 The warm and personal story of a runner's boyhood, his first experiences in running, his youthful ambitions and frustrations, and how he developed the power he felt within him to become the greatest Miler of all-time By Roger Bannister , Sports Illustrated I remember a moment when I stood...

1954 & Its Sportsman: Roger Bannister January 03, 1955 The year brought shining performances in a host of sports, but the electrifying running of history's first 4-minute Miler—a man of no fanfare—made him year's pre-eminent man of sport By Gerald Holland, Sports Illustrated If ever a good speech ruined a dinner it was that delivered by Dr. Roger... Duel of the Four-Minute Men August 16, 1954 Bannister surges to victory in the heart-stirring Commonwealth Games Mile; first time two men sub-4 minutes in the same Mile race By Paul O'Neil, Sports Illustrated VANCOUVER, B.C. - The art of running the Mile consists, in essence, of reaching the threshold of unconsciousness at the instant... First four-minute mile - May 06, 1954 - HISTORY.com Publisher A+E Networks In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks track and field’s most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile.

Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. For years, so many athletes had tried and failed to run a mile in less than four minutes that people made it out to be a physical impossibility. The world record for a mile was 4 minutes and 1.3 seconds, set by Gunder Hagg of Sweden in 1945. Despite, or perhaps because of, the psychological mystique surrounding the four-minute barrier, several runners in the early 1950s dedicated themselves to being the first to cross into the three-minute zone. Roger Bannister, born in Harrow, England, in 1929, was a top mile-runner while a student at the University of Oxford and at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London. In 1951 and 1953, he won British championships in the mile run. As he prepared himself for his first competitive race of the 1954 season, Bannister researched the mechanics of running and trained using new scientific methods he developed.

On May 6, 1954, he came to the Iffley Road track in Oxford for the annual match between the Amateur Athletic Association and Oxford University. Conditions were far from ideal; it had been windy and raining. A considerable crosswind was blowing across the track as the mile race was set to begin. At 6 p.m., the starting gun was fired. In a carefully planned race, Bannister was aided by Chris Brasher, a former Cambridge runner who acted as a pacemaker. For the first half-mile, Brasher led the field, with Bannister close behind, and then another runner took up the lead and reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 3 minutes 0.4 seconds, with Bannister at 3 minutes 0.7 seconds. Bannister took the lead with about 350 yards to go and passed an unofficial timekeeper at the 1,500-meter mark in 3 minutes 43 seconds, thus equaling the world’s record for that distance. Thereafter, Bannister threw in all his reserves and broke the tape in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

As soon as the first part of his score was announced–“three minutes…”–the crowd erupted in pandemonium. Bannister went on to win British and Empire championships in the mile run, and the European title in the 1,500-meter event in 1954. At the end of the year, Bannister retired from athletic competition to pursue his medical career full time and in 1955 recounted his experiences in the book The Four Minute Mile. He later earned a medical degree from Oxford and became a neurologist. In 1975, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. His world record in the mile did not stand long, and the record continued to be lowered with increasingly controlled climatic and surface conditions, more accurate timing devices, and improvements in training and running techniques. A “sub-four” is still a notable time, but top international runners now routinely accomplish the feat. Because a mile is not a metric measurement, it is not a regular track event nor featured in the Olympics. It continues, however, to be run by many top runners as a glamour event.

Related Videos What We Mortals Can Learn from the 4-Minute Mile What We Mortals Can Learn From the 4-Minute Mile Written by Matt Frazier The experts said it couldn’t be done According to legend, experts said for years that the human body was simply not capable of a 4-minute mile. It wasn’t just dangerous; it was impossible. Further legends hold that people had tried for over a thousand years to break the barrier, even tying bulls behind them to increase the incentive to do the impossible. In the 1940’s, the mile record was pushed to 4:01, where it stood for nine years, as runners struggled with the idea that, just maybe, the experts had it right. Perhaps the human body had reached its limit. The breakthrough On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier, running the distance in 3:59.4. As part of his training, he relentlessly visualized the achievement in order to create a sense of certainty in his mind and body. Barely a year after Bannister’s accomplishment, someone else ran a mile in under 4 minutes. Then some more runners did.

Now, it’s almost routine. Even strong high-schoolers today run 4-minute miles. [Note: this used to say “24 people broke the 4-minute mark within a year of Bannister. This is wrong; see the comments.] What does this mean for us? I don’t know about you, but for me, a 4-minute mile is probably not in the cards. (5 minutes? Maybe one day.) That’s not the point. The point is this: It took a sense of extreme certainty for Roger Bannister to do what was considered un-doable. He alone was able to create that certainty in himself without seeing any proof that it could be done. But once he crashed through that barrier, the rest of the world saw that it was possible, and the previous record that had stood for nine years was broken routinely. New Agers call it the Law of Attraction, scientists call it the RAS I love this story. I don’t know how much of it is true; I sense that some of the details have become overblown in an effort to dramatize. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’ve witnessed firsthand what a little certainty can do.

When you become certain of something, when every part of your makeup believes it because you focus on it every single day, something “magical” happens. Not New Age magical, but science magical. We have a system in our bodies called the reticular activating system (RAS) that helps our brains decide what information to focus on and what to delete. When you have a clearly-defined purpose, a mission, and when you live every moment in a state of certainty that you’ll achieve it, you influence what your RAS filters out and what lights it up. As a result, you pay special attention things that help you achieve what you’re after, things you otherwise would have never noticed. When I was trying to qualify for Boston , I wrote a post about how certain I had been that I’d do it, as documented by a grad-school application letter I wrote. There was no reason for this certainty. But I found it somewhere in myself, and it’s for that reason alone that I eventually did qualify last year. (You’ve seen the new page about all my best BQ posts , right?) And now, it’s that way with ultramarathons.

Before I knew that people even ran 100-milers, someone told me that a friend of mine was running them. I didn’t believe it; I thought something had gotten garbled in the chain of communication. But I found an ultra group and started training with them, guys and girls who do 50’s and 100’s all the time. They’re not superhuman; they’re runners like me. Some faster, some slower. But now I’m certain. Later this year I’ll run a 50-miler (the JFK 50-miler is a likely candidate), and I’ll run a 100 after that. Of this I’m certain. Where could you use a little certainty? What would it take, short of proof, to make you believe? This post is part of a series on motivation for running . Check out the rest! Roger Bannister Won Track Immortality, but Not Olympic Gold - The New York Times The New York Times Olympics |Gold Eluded Bannister, but Track Immortality Did Not Search Photo Roger Bannister at his home in Oxford.

Credit Andrew Testa for The New York Times OXFORD, England — When Sir Roger Bannister is asked whether he knew he was about to run into history as he lined up on a rain-dampened, blustery English running track 58 years ago for his bid to break the four-minute mile barrier, he smiles, shakes his head, and replies as he has always done when people seek to cast him in a heroic light. “Standing at the brink of history? That’s a pretty bold statement,” said the man many in Britain regard as the country’s most famous athlete, but who insists that he made a more important mark in his 40 years as one of Britain’s top neurologists, all of which came after his retirement from the track. “That to me is a greater source of satisfaction than happening to move my body at a certain speed for a few moments in 1954,” Bannister, 83, said in a recent interview in the sun-dappled living room of his Oxford home, where family photographs and the paintings of his artist wife, Moyra, crowd out mementos of his athletic accomplishments.

Ask Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London Olympics organizing committee, a world-record-breaking miler and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, to name the athletes he most admires and Bannister is at the top of the list. Continue reading the main story And why not? When Bannister ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds at Oxford University’s Iffley Road track on May 6, 1954, he broke a barrier that had eluded the world’s top milers for decades, and ignited a renewed passion for athletics amid the hard graft of Britain’s early postwar years. Advertisement Continue reading the main story To Coe, it hardly matters that Bannister’s time was a full 12 seconds slower than the record for the mile that he set in 1981. “He’s the very best,” Coe said. Nevertheless, Bannister never won Olympic gold. Favored in the 1,500 meters at the Helsinki Games in 1952, he finished an exhausted fourth.

At the London Games in 1948, when he was 19, his main accomplishment, by his own admission, was to use his speed to dash to the parking lot at the last minute to retrieve the Union Jack to be carried into the opening ceremony by the British team. Somehow, it had been forgotten in his car trunk by the team manager. And there would be no third Olympics after his epic achievement in 1954. After running another sub-four-minute mile in a race that August, he retired. He was just 25. Anybody who spends a few hours with him now comes away impressed with his insistent self-effacement, perhaps best captured in the words of another famous English athlete, Harold Abrahams, whose exploits in winning the 100-meter gold medal at the Paris Olympics of 1924 were chronicled in the movie “Chariots of Fire.” Writing before Bannister’s failure in Helsinki, Abrahams found Bannister’s demeanor to be his only failing as an athlete. “Modesty in Bannister,” he wrote, “amounts to an almost complete reluctance to acknowledge his greatness.” But there was greatness on that day in May 1954.

On the morning of the record attempt, Bannister finished a shift as a trainee doctor at a London hospital, sharpened his spikes on a grinder in a laboratory, and headed for the Oxford train and what turned out to be the most telling encounter of a lifetime. Without that unplanned meeting on the train, he said, he would probably never have attempted the mile record that day, on what might well have been his last chance to break the four-minute mark. The weather was foreboding. The end of his medical training was imminent, and with it his retirement as a runner. His pacemakers, Christopher Chataway and Chris Brasher, were increasingly hard to muster. John Landy, an Australian who was breathing down Bannister’s neck in pursuit of the record, was heading for Finland, then a powerhouse in middle-distance running, and his own assault on the mile barrier. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up But on the train was Franz Stampfl, a sometime coach of Bannister, who mostly ran without one.

A former javelin thrower and skier — and an Austrian Jewish refugee who had fled Hitler — Stampfl had arrived in Britain in 1939. Advertisement Continue reading the main story When World War II broke out, he was interned and then put aboard a boat that was taking him and other internees to Australia. But the boat was torpedoed off Liverpool, and Stampfl ended up in icy waters for hours, surviving when many others did not. “He had suffered and survived through willpower and determination, and I had not previously met someone quite like that,” Bannister said of Stampfl. And now, on the train, they talked. “We looked out at the rain and he said, ‘You know, Roger, I think you have the potential to run a 3-minute-56-second mile, so even if the weather is bad you should make the attempt,’ ” Bannister recalled. At the track, noticing the easing of the wind in the fluttering of England’s flag of St. George atop a neighboring steeple, Bannister decided that the moment had arrived. And it had. The theme of willpower is a recurrent one for Bannister.

Asked to list the attributes that an athlete needs to succeed, he cites it first, ahead of good genes, top training, a smart diet and other factors. Money, for him, was never an incentive, since the amateur rules of the 1940s and 1950s meant he “never earned a penny” from running. “I think the art of record-breaking is taking out of your body more than it has,” Bannister said. In medicine, as in sports, he said, “the real secret is that I’ve worked hard.” As for the future of sports, Bannister said he was optimistic. His appointment in the 1970s to Britain’s sports council gave him an opening to sponsor early research on tests to spot the use of the anabolic steroids then coming into use among athletes, and to push — unsuccessfully — Juan Antonio Samaranch, then the president of the International Olympic Committee, to adopt random out-of-competition testing. Bannister said that with those tests now an established part of international competition, he believed a vast majority of the 15,000 athletes competing in London would be drug-free.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story And what of the prospect of a new era of record-breaking, after a lull since 1999 in the lowering of the mile record, set at 3:43.13 by Morocco’s Hicham el-Guerrouj in 1999, more than 16 seconds faster than the four-minute barrier that many once thought unbreakable? From a standpoint of physiology, Bannister said, anything below 3 minutes 30 seconds will be “very difficult.” But even as he said it, his mind seemed to go back to the day in 1954 when he did something that medical experts once called impossible. “There is no absolute limit,” he concluded. Correction: July 28, 2012 An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to when Bannister retired. It was in August 1954 after running a sub-four-minute mile, not a few weeks after running the first sub-four-minute mile in May of that year.

A version of this article appears in print on July 28, 2012, on Page D7 of the New York edition with the headline: Gold Eluded Bannister, but Track Immortality Did Not. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1954: Three minutes 59.4 seconds 1954: Three minutes 59.4 seconds Running a mile in under four minutes was one of athletics' greatest milestones. The first man to break the almost mythical barrier was Roger Bannister, with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds at Iffley Road Track, Oxford, on 6 May 1954. The 25-year-old medical student's achievement has not diminished with time - not least because he was the last amateur athlete to break such a significant record. Bannister - now Sir Roger - retired from athletics shortly after his Iffley Road success to pursue a career in medicine. Your memories I was 15 years old, had just left school and started at art school. Leaving school had meant stopping athletics.

I was riding home after a game of tennis when a friend called out to me, "Bannister has done the four minute mile." That was the jolt I needed to return to running. I lived in a dogs-bone cul-de-sac which measured just under 440 yards and so for the next three years I pounded the pavement, stopwatch in hand rolling out the miles and lowering my time a few seconds at a time. I was nowhere near a record of course but four minutes 29 seconds was the final effort. Bannister was my hero. I bought every daily newspaper on 6 May 1954, and any article which contained pictures and news of Landy and Bannister in Vancouver and the European 1500 metres that September. I still have that large scrapbook and managed to get his signature in the 1970s. I have even got a few seconds of 9.5mm film taken by my brother of me running on the "dogs-bone" in December 1955. Wonderful memories. Roy Laming, England I was a college second year student on the track team.

I was at school in Indiana when our coach told us of the record being broken. From that moment on our practice was spirited and each of us ran some of the best practice races ever. I'll never forget it. Gary Rosenthal, USA Sir Roger Bannister | British athlete | Britannica.com Sir Roger Bannister Alternative Title: Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister Sir Roger Bannister Hicham El Guerrouj Sir Roger Bannister, in full Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (born March 23, 1929, Harrow , Middlesex, England ), English neurologist who was the first athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes. While a student at the University of Oxford and at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London, Bannister won British (1951, 1953–54) and Empire (1954) championships in the mile run and the European title (1954) in the 1,500-metre event. He broke the four-minute barrier with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds in a dual meet at Oxford on May 6, 1954.

Breaking the world record (4 minutes 1.3 seconds), held for nine years by Gunder Hägg of Sweden , was almost incidental to his successful defiance of the “psychological” barrier, the general belief in the impossibility of running a mile in less than four minutes. Bannister is said to have achieved his speed through scientific training methods and thorough research into the mechanics of running. He recounted his experiences in the book The Four Minute Mile (1955). Sir Roger Bannister becoming the first person to run a mile in under four minutes on May 6, 1954. Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library Bannister graduated from St. Mary’s in 1954, earned a medical degree from Oxford in 1963, and became a neurologist. He wrote papers on the physiology of exercise, heat illness, and neurological subjects, and from 1969 on he edited Brain’s Clinical Neurology (retitled Brain and Bannister’s Clinical Neurology, 7th ed., 1990). He was knighted in 1975.

Learn More in these related articles: Roger Bannister: 'The day I broke the four-minute mile' - Telegraph Roger Bannister: 'The day I broke the four-minute mile' In an extract from his new book, Roger Bannister describes how he prepared for his unforgettable race Roger Bannister hits the tape after running the first four-minute mile Photo: PA By Roger Bannister Comments Sixty years ago, on May 6 1954, at Iffley Road track in Oxford, Roger Bannister became the first man in recorded history to run a mile in under four minutes. Bannister, who had read medicine at Oxford, went on to become a distinguished doctor and neurologist once his amateur athletic career had ended. Now 85, he still receives letters telling him how he inspired a generation. Here, he remembers that remarkable day... My failure to win the 1,500m gold medal at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, when I had been the favourite, was a huge knock to my pride, shattering to my friends and family and to the Great British public. I felt it was necessary to restore the faith that had been so shaken by my defeat.

Whether we athletes liked it or not, the four-minute mile had become rather like an Everest – a challenge to the human spirit. It was a barrier that seemed to defy all attempts to break it, an irksome reminder that man’s striving might be in vain. The Scandinavians, with their reverence for the magic of sport, called it the “Dream Mile”. For me, I felt I was now defending a cause. Throughout the winter of 1952–53, I stepped up the severity of my training programme. In December 1952, John Landy of Australia, who had been knocked out in my heat at the Olympic Games, had startled the world by running a mile in 4 minutes 2.1 seconds. I could hardly believe the improvement from the runner I had known at Helsinki. Landy made no secret of the fact that the four-minute mile was his goal. If I was going to attack the four-minute mile, the problem was to decide how and where the race should be run. There were four essential requirements: a good track, absence of wind, warm weather and even-paced running.

Related Articles Sir Christopher Chataway dies, aged 82 19 Jan 2014 I had decided that the Oxford track that I had helped to build should be the scene of any attempt. The biggest gamble was the weather and I was taking a great chance in hoping for a suitable day in April or May. I trained regularly with my fellow Oxbridge runners, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, and came to realise that the two Chrises were the only pacemakers who could be relied on to help me. Between the four of us, with Franz Stampfl, my Viennese coach, carefully co-ordinating our trainings, a strategy emerged as to how this ultimate athletic challenge could be overcome. To use a mountaineering analogy, our plan was for Chris B to take Chris C and me to “base camp” at the half-mile, so that Chris C could then launch me into the attack itself on the last lap. This made both Chris B’s pace judgment and Chris C’s strength and speed over the three-quarter mile equally crucial for success. The chosen day was Thursday May 6 1954.

The real problem that faced me was to decide if the weather conditions justified an attempt: the wind was fierce. I decided to travel up to Oxford alone because I wanted time to think. However, when I boarded a carriage at Paddington, there was Franz. This was the first of two great moments of chance that day. I could not have wished for a better companion. Franz is not the kind of coach who wishes to turn the athlete into a machine. We shared a view of athletics as a means of “re-creation” of each individual, as a result of the liberation of the latent power within him. We talked about the problem I faced. A wind of gale force was blowing that would slow me by a second a lap, so in order to succeed I must run not merely a four-minute mile but the equivalent of a 3.56-minute mile in calm weather. I had reached my peak physically and psychologically. There might never be another opportunity like it. If I tried and failed I should be dejected and my chances would be less on any later attempt. Yet it seemed that the high wind was going to make it impossible.

I had almost decided when I entered the carriage at Paddington that, unless the wind dropped soon, I would postpone the attempt. Franz understood my dilemma. He said, “If you pass it up today, you may never forgive yourself for the rest of your life”. He stiffened my resolve as the train arrived in Oxford. I had been wrong to think that the athlete could be self-sufficient. I arrived at the Iffley Road track and tested two pairs of running shoes. Watching the St George’s flag stand horizontal to the flagpole of a nearby church, however, the chances of success seemed increasingly dismal. After lunch – a ham salad – at a friend’s house, I sought out Chris C at Magdalen College. The sun shone briefly and he was upbeat. “The day could be a lot worse, couldn’t it? The forecast says the wind may drop towards evening. Let’s not decide until five o’clock.” We arrived at the track at around 4.30pm. At 5.15pm there was a shower of rain. Afterwards, the wind blew equally strongly, but now came in gusts.

As Brasher, Chataway and I warmed up, we knew the eyes of the spectators were on us. I could sense that the two Chrises were becoming increasingly irritated with me when, just half an hour before the race, I still had not decided whether to make the world-record attempt. They came into the changing room and with one voice pleaded, “Come on, Roger, do make up your mind”. Their impatience was palpable and, looking back, I understand how difficult it was for them to get in the mood for the race if I went on shilly-shallying. I could see I was being unreasonable and so I said, “Right, we’ll go for it, we all know what we have to do”. As we lined up for the start, I glanced at the church flag again. It fluttered more gently now and the scene from Shaw’s Saint Joan flashed through my mind, how she, at her desperate moment, waited for the wind to change, so that her army could cross the river. This was the second moment of chance, a moment of calm, which I took as a sign that the wind was dropping.

There was complete silence on the ground… then a false start by Chris B … I felt angry that precious moments during the lull in the wind might be slipping by. The gun fired a second time … Brasher went into the lead and I slipped in effortlessly behind him. My legs seemed to meet no resistance, as if propelled by some unknown force. We seemed to be going so slowly! I shouted: “Faster!” But Brasher kept his head and did not change the pace. At one-and-a-half laps I was still worrying about the pace. A voice shouting “relax” penetrated to me above the noise of the crowd. I learnt afterwards it was Stampfl’s. Unconsciously, I obeyed. If the speed was wrong it was too late to do anything about it, so why worry? I was relaxing so much that my mind seemed almost detached from my body. There was no feeling of strain. I barely noticed the half-mile, passed in 1.58 minutes. At three-quarters of a mile my effort was still barely perceptible; the time was 3.07 minutes and by now the crowd was roaring. Then I pounced past Chataway, 300 yards from the finish.

There was a moment of mixed excitement and anguish when my mind took over. It raced well ahead of my body and drew me compellingly forward. There was no pain, only a great unity of movement and aim. Time seemed to stand still. The only reality was the next 200 yards of track under my feet. I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. The noise in my ears was that of the faithful Oxford crowd. Their hope and encouragement gave me strength: I had now turned the last bend and there were only 50 yards more. My body must have exhausted its energy, but it still went on running just the same. The physical overdraft came only from greater willpower. This was the crucial moment when my legs were strong enough to carry me over the last few yards, as they could not have done in previous years. With five yards to go, the finishing line seemed almost to recede. Those last few seconds seemed an eternity. The faint line of the finishing tape stood ahead as a haven of peace after the struggle. The arms of the world were waiting to receive me only if I reached the tape without slackening my speed.

If I faltered now, there would be no arms to hold me and the world would seem a cold, forbidding place. I leapt at the tape like a man taking his last desperate spring to save himself from a chasm that threatens to engulf him. Then my effort was over and I collapsed almost unconscious, with an arm on either side of me. It was only then that real pain overtook me. It was as if all my limbs were caught in an ever-tightening vice. Blood surged from my muscles to my brain and seemed to fell me. I felt like an exploded flashbulb. Vision became black and white. I existed in the most passive physical state without being quite unconscious. The stopwatches held the answer. The announcement came from Norris McWhirter, delivered with a slow, clear diction: “Result of Event Eight: One mile. First, R. G. Bannister of Exeter and Merton Colleges, in a time which, subject to ratification, is a new Track Record, British Native Record, British All-Comers Record, European Record, Commonwealth Record and World Record… Three minutes…” The rest was lost in the roar of excitement.

I grabbed Brasher and Chataway and together we scampered round the track in a burst of happiness. We had done it, the three of us! 'Twin Tracks’ by Roger Bannister is published on April 8 and is available from Telegraph Books for £15 plus £1.35p&p. Call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Question: In 1954, which British athlete broke the Four Minute Mile?
Answer: Roger Bannister